Wow, David Cohen of the Asheville Citizen-Times, you’re an assbag. February 11, 2009 Jill (click here to view) David CohenAsheville Citizen-TimesFeb 9, 2009 EditorialCartoonists.com Really, how is this ok? “Post-racial America” indeed. Christ. via Shakesville.
When I was at school at UNC-Asheville, the name “Citizen-Times” was shorthand for “crappiest paper on earth.” Professors would regularly bring it up as an example of close-mindedness, conservatism, poor fact-checking, and remarkably awful editing. Glad to see some things never change! Also, wow, that is some amazing assbaggery, even for the Citizen-Times. I’m impressed.
Oh….my…. Yes the “poor white man being ‘brutalized’ by the black man taking away my hard earned moooooney wah” trope….veeeeery original, isn’t it, Mr. Cohen? Post-racial my ass.
Awful. I visited Asheville last year and it was such a wonderful community of open-minded concerned artists, I’m shocked that such evil attitudes exist there.
Tatulah: Please, the preferred terms is a**baggery. Leah: I believe you mean to say “post-racial my a**.” No need to thank me for my a**istance.
I’m glad a cartoonist sees the striking resemblance between murder and a salary of half a million dollars to executives of corporations who already failed in the free market, and also note that only a black man would do either thing (and only to white men). Such doublethink. Shouldn’t right-wing people want them to get no salary? I guess we should be more compassionate. After all, $500000 isn’t very much to stretch when you have a 4 million dollar summer home, a nanny, a former police officer bodyguard/driver, 4 galas requiring wear-once $12000 dresses each year, and a solid gold statue of yourself to build.
Aaaand welcome to the Appalachians. Can everyone please stop acting like because you can get an organic eclair within the Asheville city limits that it isn’t smack in the middle of a very poor and reactionary part of the country? (Not to be classist, but the perception of Appalachia as the last holdout of poor white folks is big in the minds of many people who live there…). You can see this dynamic at work by searching “Asheville protest” on Youtube; people from the county work in law enforcement, and they hate the hell out of hippies. I grew up on the Citizen Times, where I met both George Will and the idiotic Millard Filmore. Also, people in the county referred to my high school alma mater as “The Asheville Congo”. Because there were some black people there, you see. I hate it when people congratulate themselves at having moved out of red states, but: I no longer live in Appalachia as of very recently. And god, was I ready for a break.
It’s too bad that editorial cartooning is a dying art, but strips like this give little reason for its continued existence.
“Shouldn’t right-wing people want them to get no salary?” It appears, from looking at his other cartoons, that this is a left-wing cartoonist. Given the title, “Post Racial”, I suspect he’s trying to be ironic, ie parodying, by using a his own stramanish construction of conservative thinking, right-wing objections to the salary cap and thus the absurdity of us being “post racial.” So file this under a fake hate crime. or the annoying liberal tendency to introduce bigotry into a conversation under the guise of raising awareness of said bigotry.
Did anyone see that senate hearing where they asked the banks why they even have bonuses to do the right thing for the company? Eventually the conclusion of the senate committee was: so if you didn’t get bonuses you’d do the same amount of work.: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/frank_stumps_ceo_whats_the_point_of_bonuses.php
Manju, I… wow. Um. No one called it a hate crime, and if you see this guy’s other work as left-wing, it begs the question “Left of what?” What the hell?
Post-racial? After there are races? Buh? (Sorry, this is a pet peeve. I think he meant post-racist, but that would be way too ironic that even this artist would see it.)
Now you see why the Mountain Xpress is THE paper in Asheville, not that shit. As others have said, that’s even bad for THEM, though…
Hey purpleshoes: Actually, North Carolina is no longer a Red State. Just sayin’. “Aaaand welcome to the Appalachians. Can everyone please stop acting like because you can get an organic eclair within the Asheville city limits that it isn’t smack in the middle of a very poor and reactionary part of the country? (Not to be classist, but the perception of Appalachia as the last holdout of poor white folks is big in the minds of many people who live there…).” Actually, I’m from North Carolina too. And, yeah, I find that classist as hell. The presumption, that is, that “poor white” (which my family most certainly *is*) = Klan. Sometimes it just equals working class. No, it isn’t unusual for most towns–even progressive ones like Asheville–to have hatemongering newspapers. And, honestly, you know…? Fuck them. Chapel Hill had one too. They had no credibility within the community. And I’d rather they not be generalized as The Views of everyone from my part of the country. Cries for “killing” Obama over the course of the campaign didn’t usually, in fact, come from the South. The worst came right out of central Pennsylvania, where I currently live–where the Klan originated and now has its headquarters. I get *really* tired of the kinds of assumptions that are made about the communities I’m close to… And of Northern superiority complexes about the whole damn thing.
I want to be clear: I am *not* saying that racism isn’t a huge problem in Asheville or in the South in general. I *do* get really tired of people in progressive spaces who think it’s perfectly okay to make classist statements about the mixed communities in which I grew up. It was *in* the South that I got an anti-racist education. Here in Pennsylvania, I might well have grown up believing that “racism is no longer a problem in this country” (As some of my students like to tell me.). And it makes me very defensive when I hear white people from this region of the country behave as if this isn’t a part of their history as well. It’s is; it simply isn’t talked about.
Anyway, sorry to derail. I’m a bit defensive because of some of the comments on the thread ahead of this one. But, yeah, this cartoon is awful. And stupid. And obviously virulently racist. And… Ugh… *hates people*
Actually, THIS article (beware frenzied fundamentalist Christian propaganda) describes what is happening. Asheville is a liberated zone, and various conservatives trapped inside the liberated zone (such as the Citizen Times faction) feel under siege. And this is how they respond to that. From the link: Asheville is a small city of about 68,000 nestled in the mountains of western North Carolina. It’s located in the heart of the Bible belt — the stretch of southern states considered to be the bastion of conservative Christian values. But this small city has earned a reputation of being anything but conservative. A recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine describes Asheville this way: “Asheville had recently become America’s new freak capital. The place overflowed with hippies, neo-hippies, punks, witches, pagans, the homeless and lost, the homeless and found, fairies, dykes, braggarts, dreadlocked bliss ninnies, thieves, crystal worshippers, free-leonard peltiers, free-mumias, potheads, anarchists, performance artists, and so on.” Now, read the cartoon in context: it’s a deliberate effort to piss a lot of people off. As Kristin rightly stated, NC is not a red state anymore.
The cartoonist posted his explanation in the comments to this blog: http://ashvegas.squarespace.com/journal/2009/2/11/did-asheville-editorial-cartoonist-david-cohen-cross-the-lin.html It looks like he just didn’t see the obvious interpretation of his cartoon: “I realize that the idea that I was trying to get across was lost in another, completely different set of contexts, that, when looked at as most of the commenters have, would be extremely racist and offensive. Believe me that was not my intention. I must apologize to anyone offended by the cartoon, and can only promise that further efforts to illustrate my opinions will be clearer and better portray what I am trying to say.”
James: Oh great, the faux “I’m sorry if you were offended” apology. And I don’t buy it. He works for a right wing racist paper.
More about Asheville: It is a pretty liberal town in the South. It has one of the largest queer communities in the region. It is also–as the Appalachian mountain region is–a majority-white region. It is the only part of the state that is so racially homogeneous. Most of the extremists and hate groups are relegated to that part of the state. And the region also hid Eric Rudolph for a long damn time (Not in Asheville, but it’s common to speak rather generally about “the mountains.”). So… Yes, the state went blue. But it’s poor as a whole–not just its Western part. And I do think there are differences in the ways in which racism operates between the East and the West. I grew up in the Raleigh area, so my experience of North Carolina was far different (It was, for starters, urban. Also, it was not majority-white, and it had been an important site of the Civil Rights struggle. There was an important anti-racist infrastructure there that I suspect is not as strong in Asheville.). In any case… The town is progressive when it comes to queer issues. But it’s probably important to recognize that it has a long way to go when it comes to race.
“Manju, I… wow. Um. No one called it a hate crime” I didn’t mean the commentators here. I meant the cartoonist. He saw the republicans or wall st’s reaction to salary caps as a form of racism…but is was more like his cartoon itself was perpetuating a fake hate crime, since its really unlikely anyone thought like that. his cartoon was unnecessarily racially divisive, sorta like the PETA people. “and if you see this guy’s other work as left-wing, it begs the question “Left of what?” What the hell?” well, left of the republicans at least. i could be wrong, buts thats how i read it. for a conservative to draw a cartoon like that would be almost too good to be true, as he would be practically a walking liberal stereotype of a bigoted right-winger. more likely its hipster liberal ironic racism. we’ll see onece he explains (James’ link says the websites down till 2am)
I don’t understand this comic. Where’s the depiction of the hand-cuffed young black man being shot while pinned to the ground at a train station in “post-racial” America? There are countless other scenes he could depict if he wants to show “post-racial” America.
ugh, what a privilege-blind ass-gas apology. “Why don’t people call me racist when I draw characatures of white people?” – are you fucking serious? I can’t believe the apologism going on in that whole comment thread. Well, on second thought, I can.
I love how Cohen explains that he didn’t mean to for the thug on the left panel to “represent all black people.” Seriously? Then why is he Black? In fact, why think about violent thugs at all? The only sin Obama committed is to scold rich execs for being arrogant pieces of shit. How is asking the bosses not to rob working people even comparable to violating a person’s sense of safety at gunpoint? Damn—I think Cohen’s got another kind of bigotry working overtime in his head there. PS: As someone who was born-raised in Raleigh but has lived in the Northeast, I can’t tell you without a doubt that North Carolina is one of the least racist places in this country.
Yolanda C.: “PS: As someone who was born-raised in Raleigh but has lived in the Northeast, I can’t tell you without a doubt that North Carolina is one of the least racist places in this country.” What do you mean? I’m now living in the Northeast too, and I just think there are differences in the way that racism operates. We *talked* about in in the South. The Civil Rights movement at least inculcated our culture with a way to talk about things, call out racism, deal with it. In the Northeast, I find it really hard to raise at all. When I do, my students (I teach) tend to think I’ve just accused them and their parents of being members of the KKK or something. They get *really* offended, and they shut down the conversation completely. Also, they’ll make classist statements about how “that’s only a Southern redneck problem” and completely disavow the idea that it’s an issue here. I don’t really see a language for dealing with it… That’s been a source of culture shock for me. I also think… Because of the impact of the Civil Rights movement, NC became integrated in a way that the Northeast never did. It’s the NE that’s the most segregated region in this country. And so… I don’t know. It’s something I’ve been thinking about quite a lot in trying to figure out a way of speaking about it here.
I also think that Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill is probably quite a lot different (culturally speaking) than much of the rest of the state. While I’m prone toward generalizing based on my experiences there, I do want to be careful about that.
“Manju: This is a right wing paper.” Well, Alexander Cockburn used to write for the WSJ editorial page, does that make him a right winger? Anyway, after reading Cohens explainaiton, I can concede he probably didn’t mean to make fun of republicans, but its also clear he’s not one of them either. he voted for obama and is for the salary cap, which begs the question as to what the point of the cartoon is, since he appears to be equating the cap with armed robbery. Anyway, I’m fairly certain he’s a democrat so I’ll let you folks clean your own house, which, in all honesty, given how you gone after hillary clinton and peta etc, you’re better than most at.
I also think… Because of the impact of the Civil Rights movement, NC became integrated in a way that the Northeast never did. It’s the NE that’s the most segregated region in this country. Kristin—that’s exactly my point. I’ve seen levels of residential segregation and poverty in Baltimore and Philly that I wouldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams. Even the poorest parts of Raleigh, Durham, and Wilson look nothing like West Baltimore.
Yolanda C.: Yeah, it’s…surprising. I mean, you do kind of grow up thinking that the South is the worst part of the country wrt race? I did, too. But, yeah, I definitely think the NE needs to wake the fuck up/get the beam out of its own eye.
Incidentally, I’m curious whether you ever found a way to talk about it with people in the Northeast?
One of the reasons the south is not as segregated as the north is because the Jim Crow laws made the white southerners feel safe and less threatened. Segregation didn’t really get going in the south until after the civil rights movement. In the North, the whites felt incredibly threatened when black people started migrating there for work in the early 1900’s. Segregation got intense. Then in the economic downturn in the 70’s the segregated areas became areas of concentrated poverty. And it is perfectly acceptable to blame poor people for their situation. So yes, the North is as racist as the south. It is just much more veiled. And yes, Chicago, New York, and Detroit, all the places black people first started to migrate are the most segregated cities in the world. Much like South Africa.
“The worst came right out of central Pennsylvania, where I currently live–where the Klan originated and now has its headquarters.” The Klan originated in Tennessee. There is simply no equating Klan activity in the confederacy with that of the North (except perhaps Indiana). I am from central PA myself, and know what racist fools are in Appalachia. And Kristen, you talk about the impact of the civil rights movement on places like NC vis a vis the North, and mix it in with the standards southern “racists are up north too”. Well, yeah. But the reason the civil rights movement had the impact it did in the south is, well, you know, because of the institutionalized racism there that the racist sentiments of northerners simply cannot match. Not even close. And you know it.
Well Kristin, that’s what I was taught as a kid in the Eighties, that the South had the worst prejudice ever. As you said, that was true for you as well. My parents/aunts-uncles generation was the last Jim Crow generation in our family, so they went to the segregated schools, and they told me about not being able to eat in restaurants and having to sit in the back of buses. As a kid I experienced racism here and there, but I never had the experiences that my parents and older relatives told me about. Now I read about Malcolm X’s experiences of racism in Boston and NYC when I was ten, but since it wasn’t my family’s experience, I didn’t quite get it what Malcolm meant. What made the global reality of racism clear for me was seeing the Rodney King beating on TV when I was thirteen, and witnessing the debate about divestment from South Africa and Mandela decades-long imprisonment. Then of course, the LA riots, the attacks on gangsta rap and welfare moms, the first Gulf War, and other events that educated me about global white supremacy. As a teen I believed that I understood what other POC were going through. But still, it wasn’t until I began to travel to the big cities that I saw firsthand how bad racism could get, even for someone like me who grew up poor. Racism in big city America is more entrenched, more visceral, and way more hypocritical. See, what makes Cohen’s cartoon infuriating for me is not that he works for the Asheville paper—it’s that his editorial racism is all too similar to the racism of the media establishment in New York, DC, Chicago, and LA. And I think that’s what people don’t get when they express shock about the racist presence in liberal Asheville, Raleigh, or Chapel Hill. Ultimately, Asheville and the Triangle are more like New York and LA than any of us give them credit for.
ohcomeon, there is a good quote from a Jonathon Kozol book that sums it up: “In the South, you know where you stand, Here in NY, they smile pat you on the head, and nicely tell you to go back where you belong.” An argument about which part of the country is more racist is futile, because it is a racist country. Shit, it is a racist world. It is institutionalized in all parts of the country. It is more overt in the south. That can be better sometimes, because it makes it easier to openly deal with. The KKK may have originated in Tennessee, but the race riots in the north, with mostly white on black violence, and mostly black people going to jail for it is just as bad. It shouldn’t be forgotten or minimalized.
Ellen, that’s a nice point. What gets me, though, is that the same people whose fathers were in the Klan, descended from slave owners and traitors in defense of slavery, suddenly become SO concerned about school busing riots in Boston 30 years ago when the vicious institution of open racism down south is brought up. I mean, there’s no comparison. None. “Who is more racist?” Answer: southern white protestants. And this is by no means limited to black/white racism, no. Southern white prods have hated all comers to the Union for centuries, be they black, irish/italian/polish (read: Catholics), jews, and on and on and on. All comers, from the get go. Our entire history since 1865 has been written and rewritten to assuage the hurts of these jerks. All while they wave confederate flags, call us yankees, brutalize black americans in a way unseen elsewhere in the Union (but but but racists everywhere – we know. It’s your pride in your racism that galls), refuse to change at all, and on and on. Hey, I’m from rural PA. My family is from southern Alabama. I live in NYC. I know what racial intolerance is. There are differences, though. Huge differences. All but the poorest and dumbest northern whites at least have the decency to exhibit some shame for their racism. Down south? Pride. The American south has been the thumb in our eye, for no reason but spite, for centuries. Thanks, guys. Thanks a lot.
Sorry, I think that’s bullshit. Northern white protestants are just as full of hate. The differences in racism are differences in how much we acknowledge it. You live in NYC? Do you think a lot of people there feel shame for the S. Bronx? The point that many of the southerners on here were trying to make is not that southerners are less racist, its that they were surprised to learn that northerners were just as racist. And that southerners shouldn’t have to take all the credit for it.
The racism going on today in the N (forget 30 yrs ago) might just be worse than what is going on in the S.
“The point that many of the southerners on here were trying to make is not that southerners are less racist, its that they were surprised to learn that northerners were just as racist. And that southerners shouldn’t have to take all the credit for it.” Those maing that point are you, Ellen, and Kristen. Two (obstensible liberals) from the South. I get it. Comparisons abound – most pointedly in the case of school segregation. I went to Penn State, nestled in the heart of Pennsylvanian appalachia. PSU’s first black football players arrived on the scene in the 1940’s after WWII. What can we say of their southern counterparts? Little that’s charitable, I’m afraid. The SEC’s first black football players cam on the scene in the late 1960’s. This, despite the fact that the black population of southern states is (and was moreso then) a massive fraction of all citizens compared to their northern counterparts. “Do you think a lot of people there feel shame for the S. Bronx?” Yes. And it (like most black neighborhoods in NYC) is doing better than it was before. I know; I live in Fort Greene Brooklyn. As I said before, southerners love to pretend that “they’re just as racist up north.” No, they aren’t. I know. The difference is massive, racist as northern whites are. And those Northern white protestants died in droves to free blacks. Southern prods died in droves to do the opposite. Wake up. Accept the evil of your past. I know it’s hard. Many of my ancestors (though Catholics) died wearing the grey. There is simply no comparison. It’s not some conspiracy or willful blindness of “the yankees”. It’s just true. The list goes on.
“The racism going on today in the N (forget 30 yrs ago) might just be worse than what is going on in the S.” Keep telling yourself that.
Hey, in the 90’s there was still a segregated maternity ward at Mt. Sinai. How many students from the S. Bronx do you think get admitted to bedford Stuyvestant? If you think the N is less racist, you’re not paying attention.
“How many students from the S. Bronx do you think get admitted to bedford Stuyvestant? If you think the N is less racist, you’re not paying attention.” The N is less racist, and I know this because I have been paying attention. To answer your question, I believe you mean Stuyvesant High rather than bed-stuy, as the latter is a neighborhood in Brooklyn. I have no idea if the S. Bronx is disproportionately underrepresented at Stuy High. I imagine it is, although I would say this has less to do with racism against blacks (I assume you think the S. Bronx is what it is because it’s largely a black neighborhood?)than poverty. NYC is, if you’ve never spent anytime here, extraordinarily diverse. If you’re looking for me to make a blanket statement about there being no racism or racial tensions in NYC, you won’t get one. There is. Frictions abound in diverse communities. But I also see interracial couple everywhere. Something that is downright dangerous in the according-to-you-no-more-racist American South. Just accept it. I am not talking about you personally. There is no comparison. None.
Well, yeah there is more racism here in the South. But I also find it too often the case that racism in the South (around which there is a shitload of activism btw) has become something of an internet scapegoat that allows for people to ignore the institutional racism that exists in their own back yard. But I also see interracial couple everywhere. Something that is downright dangerous in the according-to-you-no-more-racist American South. So do I here in GA.
I don’t even live in the US, and I know this is bullshit. Really? Are you actually trying to argue that the Union soldiers were prepared to die because they cared so much about the brutality of slavery? I think you need to move beyond whatever you learned in your high school history class if you want to understand the civil war. Not even to have a nuanced analysis – I certainly don’t. If that were the case, I think that the United States would be a very different place. There are some white people who have been killed because they were fighting segregation, and more broadly, institutionalized racism, but I think the numbers are very low. White people in the North are racist. White people in Canada – (the American liberal’s paradise!) – are racist. Like much of the northern united states, Canada does not have a history of plantation-based slavery. And most white Canadians will happily tell you that we are much less racist than Americans. Do you see a pattern here?
My apologies for screwing up the formatting. I was responding to ohcomeon’s comment #42: And those Northern white protestants died in droves to free blacks. Southern prods died in droves to do the opposite. Wake up. Accept the evil of your past. I know it’s hard. Many of my ancestors (though Catholics) died wearing the grey. There is simply no comparison. It’s not some conspiracy or willful blindness of “the yankees”. It’s just true.
Please note this cartoon did not appear in the Asheville Citizen-Times. David Cohen freelances for the AC-T, but is not an employee, nor did he submit this cartoon to us for publication. This cartoon would not have appeared on our pages. I know David Cohen. There’s not a hateful bone in his body or thought in his head. I think before you call him names you should read his comments on the Ashevegas blog: http://ashvegas.squarespace.com/journal/2009/2/11/did-asheville-editorial-cartoonist-david-cohen-cross-the-lin.html Dave Russell, AC-T editorial (828) 236-8973
It wouldn’t be entirely incorrect to say that the rest of the country tries to sweep their own racism under the carpet of the South, remaining as willfully ignorant of their own region’s history as the jerkoffs who wear Confederate flag clothing.
“It wouldn’t be entirely incorrect to say that the rest of the country tries to sweep their own racism under the carpet of the South, remaining as willfully ignorant of their own region’s history as the jerkoffs who wear Confederate flag clothing.” I love it! See, Ellen, when southern racism is brought up, well, time to trot out the Boston forced busing riots from 35 years ago! I mean, hey, that’s the same as klansmen dragging a black man to death in TX or punks putting nooses in trees in LA recently, right?
“Are you actually trying to argue that the Union soldiers were prepared to die because they cared so much about the brutality of slavery?” A great many, yes. If you think the abolitionist movement had no sway in the North, and did not inspire many, many men, you’re wrong. Again, blanket statements are what are demanded, and will not be given. The sad truth is that the American South is an extremely racist place, and has no shame over it. That is, and ever has been, the issue. Try to tell us we’re as bad as you, while you wave confederate flags in our faces. Sad.
Race and class are not mutually exclusive. Blacks in the north AND south have been, and still are to a certain extent, systematically denied property ownership (the main form of the accumulation of wealth), systematically denied education, and the same access to jobs. You can’t completely separate racism from poverty. Because I got the name of the high school wrong does not diminish my point. And I have spent plenty of time in NY. But you don’t even need to go to NY to know these things. Pick up any book on race and education, race and health, environmental health, or segregation. Racism is alive and well in every part of this country. Only in the south you can talk about it in the classroom. In the north, you get shut up by this knee jerk reaction.
Yolanda C: “See, what makes Cohen’s cartoon infuriating for me is not that he works for the Asheville paper—it’s that his editorial racism is all too similar to the racism of the media establishment in New York, DC, Chicago, and LA. And I think that’s what people don’t get when they express shock about the racist presence in liberal Asheville, Raleigh, or Chapel Hill. Ultimately, Asheville and the Triangle are more like New York and LA than any of us give them credit for.” Oh, yes, this was absolutely my reaction too.
ohcomeon’s attitude is much like that of the people I now teach in his region of home. It’s…charming. And the very reason that I have not figured out a language with which to speak to people who believe they are blameless when it comes to race. You should check out the Southern Poverty Law Center’s website, dude. They explain all about how the Klan originated in the Middle Atlantic region of the US. Also, did you know that central Pennsylvania has the highest per capita hate group population in the United States? Do you know that some of my African-American students will come to me to tell me that they’re considering dropping out because someone wrote “n****r leave” on their door? Do you know about how the Klan showed up in droves to the Palin rally in State College? (Or were you trying to tell me they were inactive around here?) It is true that racism is a problem everywhere. I don’t doubt it. I think this kind of overt hate speech is less likely to go unchallenged in *some* places in the South, though, and I also think central Pennsylvania is the most virulently–and hatefully–racist place I’ve ever lived. Sorry, dude. I didn’t know people in the US still thought it was okay to refer to Blacks as “coloreds.” And I’m not kidding.
“And those Northern white protestants died in droves to free blacks. Southern prods died in droves to do the opposite. Wake up. Accept the evil of your past.” We’ve been working on that. Seems like you haven’t.
ohcomeon: How funny, really, that you’ve shown up to this thread because your attitude is *precisely* the kind of blind attitude that I’m talking about. Did you know that housing discrimination in your home town based on race never gets legally prosecuted? I would never state that the South is not racist, and I’ve been very clear that I probably grew up in a more progressive part of the South than many. But you’re an idiot if you think you can make this kind of comparison on the basis of “paying attention.” I don’t personally trust your objectivity given that you apparently didn’t notice the racism when you were growing up around KKK headquarters.
“But I also find it too often the case that racism in the South (around which there is a shitload of activism btw) has become something of an internet scapegoat that allows for people to ignore the institutional racism that exists in their own back yard.” Fucking EXACTLY. Yes, that’s exactly what I’m thinking. In the South, there’d be a racist incident, and I’d know what to do because there was this whole anti-racist activist infrastructure that had been built up since the 1950’s. It was possible to find legal assistance, to quickly draw up a critical mass of people to confront a problem, to just… *Do* something. The North has no such infrastructure. Even in central PA, despite the huge number of hate groups, there is *no* serious antiracist advocacy. No civil rights groups. No infrastructure for dealing with it. So, it doesn’t get…addressed at all. I have no idea what to do about it. And that’s part of the frustration. There are routes for addressing these things down South, and I knew what to do to fight it. Here, I bring it up and am told that racism is no longer a problem in the US.
“Do you know about how the Klan showed up in droves to the Palin rally in State College? (Or were you trying to tell me they were inactive around here?)” LINK? “I don’t personally trust your objectivity given that you apparently didn’t notice the racism when you were growing up around KKK headquarters.” LINK? “Did you know that housing discrimination in your home town based on race never gets legally prosecuted?” LINK? “They explain all about how the Klan originated in the Middle Atlantic region of the US.” The KKK was founded in Tennessee by Nathan Bedford Forrest. To say otherwise is a lie. It seems you’re upset. I would be too. You’re throwing out a ton of assertions without evidence. Klan rallies in State College? WOULD HAVE MADE NATIONAL NEWS. KKK originated in the North? A lie. I’d be upset too. There is no way around it – it’s the south. As it ever has been. “I think this kind of overt hate speech is less likely to go unchallenged in *some* places in the South, though, and I also think central Pennsylvania is the most virulently–and hatefully–racist place I’ve ever lived. Sorry, dude. I didn’t know people in the US still thought it was okay to refer to Blacks as “coloreds.” And I’m not kidding.” You’re lying now. Central PA sucks. I don’t live there anymore. But to say it’s worse than the South would be a lie. I never knew southern whites still brandished new hunting rifles and said things like “let’s go try it out on n******” until I met them, at my uncle’s wedding (to a prod) in Birmingham, AL. We can both play that game. Except, one of us is trying to say the South is not THE hotbed of racism in the US. That would be you, and you’re resorting to lies to do so. “Only in the south you can talk about it in the classroom. In the north, you get shut up by this knee jerk reaction” And this is my favorite part. After the southerner tries to play the “yer as bad!” game by referencing Boston riots from the 1970’s or fictional klan rallies at major universities, he/she next moves onto the “well, we’re actually the enlightened, openminded ones”. Laughable. My native state never had separate bathrooms or water fountains, let alone *within living memory*. You can’t win this one. It’s sad. Accept it.
PS Kristen: Are the “more progressive” parts of the South the ones where minorities *aren’t* dragged to death after being chained to pick up trucks? That’s what it takes to be “progressive” down there, right? You’re forgetting something: I have spent many a summer in the deep south. I know what it’s like. Pure evil.
Southern Alabama is *quite* a lot different from Raleigh, ffs. Neither of us should be generalizing about “the South” based on our own limited experiences of it. I will confidently say, though, that my Black peers in the Raleigh area were not routinely afraid for their lives, as my students tell me they often are in central PA. It makes me damned angry to see people denying that this shit even goes on here. I don’t even know why I’m engaging with you…
@ohcomeon: Oh please, Benjamin Smith, kid from the Chicago suburbs gunned down a Korean man leaving church in my wonderfully liberal hometown, before shooting more people in cold blood on the streets of Chicago. He was the most violent representative of a group with headquarters in Peoria. I know people who were not allowed onto the same Great Lakes beaches when they were kids, all because of the color of their skin. I know the stories of how restaurants shuffled African-American performers through the service entrance and broke any dishes they touched. I know that when Big 10 athletics integrated in the 40s, it was an uphill battle to find hotels and restaurants that would serve them. In addition, I don’t think it’s fair to the African American majority of my community to treat “the South” as the exclusive domain of the Klansman. Martin Luther King is as much a part of our history as Nathan Bedford Forrest.
“It wouldn’t be entirely incorrect to say that the rest of the country tries to sweep their own racism under the carpet of the South, remaining as willfully ignorant of their own region’s history as the jerkoffs who wear Confederate flag clothing.” Exactly. There’s quiet a lot of truth to that. Another interesting regional observation: In Raleigh, confederate flags are very rare and usually mean “ignorant jackass.” In central PA, they mean “Klan member who might try to take your life.” And I see them around quite a lot more here in PA, very oddly enough.
In Cohen’s response: I have personally heard, not only in person, but also in published, broadcast music, the phrase,” putting a cap in yo’ ass”, not to mention a Chris Rock routine on Comedy Central. Ooh, he heard it in a Chris Rock routine. Chris Rock never speaks on racially charged topics. That’s a great plan. Watch for Cohen’s next cartoon on how there are two kinds of black people.
“In addition, I don’t think it’s fair to the African American majority of my community to treat “the South” as the exclusive domain of the Klansman. Martin Luther King is as much a part of our history as Nathan Bedford Forrest.” Thank you.
“I will confidently say, though, that my Black peers in the Raleigh area were not routinely afraid for their lives, as my students tell me they often are in central PA.” AND I’M FROM READING PA NOT JUNIATA COUNTY, NOT THAT YOU’RE COGNISCENT OF THE DIFFERENCE. Not once have I said there aren’t poor white trash racists in central PA, or denied that hate groups exist there. I however WOULD like to see evidence that “droves” of klansmen(!) showed up in State College PA for the Palin rally. Please show me. I went to PSU and follow the school and it’s athletics closely to this day; I also followed presidential politics in 2008 at PSU closely. I don’t remember klan rallies but I do remember 20000 showing for Obama. I remember no articles (which would have been written by the CDT!) on KLANSMEN in State College. I also would like to note that Obama won PA by 11 points, and LOST the white vote in pretty much every southern state but wide margins, even “progressive” NC. Let’s not play this game, Kristin; going tit-for-tat on racism North v. South won’t end well for you. Accept it. I am not putting *you* down. Just the South, because it’s awful and utterly unrepentant.
@Kristin: Fucking EXACTLY. Yes, that’s exactly what I’m thinking. In the South, there’d be a racist incident, and I’d know what to do because there was this whole anti-racist activist infrastructure that had been built up since the 1950’s. Yes. The response to just about any racial problem back in Bloomington, Indiana was to join hands, sing “Kubaya,” pass a stern city council resolution and pat themselves on the back for not being Martinsville, the community down the road with a history of Klan activity.
“A great many, yes. If you think the abolitionist movement had no sway in the North, and did not inspire many, many men, you’re wrong.” Um… The White Abolitionist Movement? The one that organized the Back to Africa movement in order to send all of the newly freed slaves to sub-Saharan Africa after converting them to Christianity? Are you ever aware of this history? At all? The weird thing is… I now live in this region, and people still talk about the Civil War this way. It’s pretty much understood to be over where I grew up.
Um? Mods? Hi there. “White trash” is kind of not okay on a progressive blog. Could y’all deal with this shit?
“In central PA, they mean “Klan member who might try to take your life.” And I see them around quite a lot more here in PA, very oddly enough.” Oh yes! The south is such a tolerant place! You’re fooling no one but yourself. I’d hate it if I was stuck in Mifflin County or wherever you are too. Still waiting on figures for the “droves” of klansmen in State College…
“I however WOULD like to see evidence that “droves” of klansmen(!) showed up in State College PA for the Palin rally. Please show me.” I’d love to, but no one reported on this. All I have is the anecdotes of Southern friends in the region who attended the rally in order to observe what went down. We recognize the symbols. Apparently, the local news media does not.
ohcomeon: Democratic primaries? Why do you think Hillary won by such a landslide in the Democratic primary in PA? And why do you think Obama won by a landslide in the primary all over the South?
Fuck you, dude, I responded to that question (about Klansmen), and my comment is in the mod queue. You’ll need to wait until the moderators retrieve it.
“Why do you think Hillary won by such a landslide in the Democratic primary in PA? And why do you think Obama won by a landslide in the primary all over the South?” ANSWER: democratic primaries are closed in most states. That is, only registered dems can vote in them. In southern states, many of which having populations that are upwards of 30% black, the democratic party is disproportionately represented by black americans. Therefore, Obama could win those states’ primaries by piling up black votes, which he did to great effect. Northern states like PA, NY, NJ, (all won by HRC) etc., have a much smaller fraction of blacks as part of their population; so, even if he dominated that demographic in those states, it still leaves a lot of white people. White people, Kristin, are disproportionately represented by the GOP, especially down south. That’s why Obama could get 30-40% of the vote in, say, Alabama, and still have whites vote GOP roughly 7-1. In short, Obama winning southern dem primaries has NOTHING to do with southern whites being open to voting for a black man. Obama winning the general up north and losing it down south has EVERYTHING to do with whites being more likely to vote for him up north and less so down south. The numbers bear this out. Try again.
“Accept it. I am not putting *you* down. Just the South, because it’s awful and utterly unrepentant.” You’re an idiot. This is partly what you’re doing–ALONG with suggesting that the Northern region of the country is significantly less racist than the South in a structural way. The ways in which racism operates are *different,* but it’s incredibly stupid to go on about “it’s worse in this region than this one.” It’s not. It’s just different. Look… Those of us who grew up in the South and who had a part in fighting to make things better feel a little defensive when people fuck all over our livelihoods like this. You’re outraged? Fucking get off your high horse, see the racism in your own backyard, and do something about it. That’s what those of us who’ve been active are used to doing…. This classist Northern complacency (which usually includes statements about how awful all the Southern “rednecks” are) is bullshit.
“I’d love to, but no one reported on this. All I have is the anecdotes of Southern friends in the region who attended the rally in order to observe what went down. We recognize the symbols. Apparently, the local news media does not.” That’s because it didn’t happen, Kristin. Hey, Kristin: Last night aliens landed on the Mall in DC. I’d link an article but no one reported it. “The one that organized the Back to Africa movement in order to send all of the newly freed slaves to sub-Saharan Africa after converting them to Christianity? Are you ever aware of this history? At all?” You mean Monroe? Liberia? Please, Kristin, most abolitionists had no interest in “Back to Africa”, certainly not by the 1860’s. “The weird thing is… I now live in this region, and people still talk about the Civil War this way. It’s pretty much understood to be over where I grew up.” Yeah right. Klan rally evidence? In State College, please.
In any case, you’re an asshole and a troll. And if the mods won’t do anything about the extremely racially offensive tripe you’re spewing all over this blog, I can do my part and stop engaging. Goodbye.
“This classist Northern complacency (which usually includes statements about how awful all the Southern “rednecks” are) is bullshit.” Classist? Well, I’ve known some pretty wealthy southerners. Not openminded. Not anything but racist. One was my grandfather. Many others were his friends from church. Classist? Please. “The ways in which racism operates are *different,* but it’s incredibly stupid to go on about “it’s worse in this region than this one.” It’s not. It’s just different.” Northern racists? Tons. Official segregation, down to water fountains? NONE. Which is worse?
Sorry, Kristin. I just hate it when descendants of klansmen (real ones, not imaginary) and traitors try to lecture me on racism. You cannot.
@ohcomeon: Sorry, Kristin. I just hate it when descendants of klansmen (real ones, not imaginary) and traitors try to lecture me on racism. You cannot. My ancestors (those that were in the United States at the time) served with the Union. My grandmother and grandfather (who had their own internalized racism) crossed the lines to use “colored” facilities. So please don’t make assumptions about my ancestry.
“My ancestors (those that were in the United States at the time) served with the Union. My grandmother and grandfather (who had their own internalized racism) crossed the lines to use “colored” facilities. So please don’t make assumptions about my ancestry.” That’s cool; your family is very, very much the exception. It would be false to say otherwise.
Traitors! Funtimes. I grew up in Bham where we still call it “The War of Northern Agression.” While my gut wants to agree with you, ohcomeon, common sense says that it’s really not the whole story. I will say that when something is at least unacceptable in blatant practice, that’s a step ahead of it being OK to do in broad daying. I.e., we seem to all agree that the South has more blatant racism. I would say that the North having at least internalized that saying certain things in public is not OK is a (small) step ahead. Your Civil War generalization is comical though. Died for the slaves? Seriously? Seriously??? What a second grade view of American history.
ohcomeon: That’s cool; your family is very, very much the exception. It would be false to say otherwise. Ohh, certainly. First I feel the need to correct you. I’m the first of my line to live in the American Southeast since the American revolution. Certainly my grandparents were exceptional, most Northern whites do nothing but bray about racism and stay silent when it benefits them.
Um, “daying” should be “daylight” 😉 Also, as a side point–the disgusting media/social attitude that anyone with a Southern accent is racist, stupid, and toothless IS damn offensive.
“Classist? Well, I’ve known some pretty wealthy southerners. Not openminded. Not anything but racist. One was my grandfather. Many others were his friends from church. Classist? Please.” Uh, I’m not responsible for your bad experience with your grandfather, but the South is *way* fucking poorer than the Northeast, yeah. It’s *bloody* well very poor, despite the old plantation wealth in some places like South Carolina. North Carolina was not built on a plantation economy. I don’t know any wealthy North Carolinians other than the people who work for IBM. The Duke family don’t even have plantation money; Duke was built through tobacco money, and tobacco was best produced on small tracts of land through a sharecropping system. Very different. I am a descendant of a Klan member whom I’ve never met. Oddly enough, he was born in Maryland. That’s a historical fact, not a matter of shame that reflects badly on me. I’ve been involved in anti-racist work my whole life precisely *because* I am outraged about the kinds of atrocities that were committed on behalf of people like me (and you). I am not the descendant of plantation slave owners–that much I know because my family was always one of the broke as shit “white trash” families whom you’re deriding. No plantation owners in my background. Probably small slave owners somewhere along the way, but you’d probably be very hard pressed to find anyone–including just about all of the Blacks in the South–who aren’t blood-relatives of slave owners along the way. And if you wouldn’t listen to Southern PoC talk about hir experiences in the NE on the basis of being a distant relative of slave-owners somewhere along the way… Well, that’d be some fucked up logic. What you’re doing is insulting the people who could actually disabuse you of your ignorance. We learned about these things all our lives. Our race history was ever present and often the center of conversation, and there was no way not to learn about it. And I’m lucky; Raleigh was a fairly affluent city with an excellent public school system. I don’t doubt that every Southern experience is not identical to mine. The students I teach from your neck of the woods never did learn any of these things. That excuses some of their misconceptions for a little while, but it doesn’t mean they don’t benefit just as much from white privilege as all the rest of us–or that they don’t have just as much of an obligation to address it as anyone from the South.
“That’s cool; your family is very, very much the exception.” It’s really not quite that simple. Most of the people from Western North Carolina either served in the Union or hid out through the war in order to avoid being drafted. chava: “War of Northern Aggression”?? Wow… I’ve never heard that. Not once. Yeah, we can’t generalize according to region. Really not at all.
“Your Civil War generalization is comical though. Died for the slaves? Seriously? Seriously??? What a second grade view of American history.” You don’t appear to know anything about the abolitionist movement, or its effects, especially in New England. If you think I am saying “every union bluebelly signed up to stop slavery” then you’re the one generalizing. Read the Battle Hymn of the Republic sometime. My favorite line is: “And ye who deal with my contemners, so my grace with you shall deal.” And that line isn’t about being nice. Ultimately, though, regardless of the motivations of Union soldier x,y, or z, the Civil War was almost entirely about the slavery issue and its effects and manifestations in policy. Without a doubt. One side fought to end it. The other? Preserve it. It really is that simple – it is made to seem more complex to, once again, soothe the wounds of southerners, all while they have Lee-Jackson-King Day (can’t let them have their own day, no sir!), confederate war monuments, and wave flags of hate in our faces.
“chava: “War of Northern Aggression”?? Wow… I’ve never heard that. Not once. Yeah, we can’t generalize according to region. Really not at all.” Another exception to the rule.
Kristin: Well, sometimes it was the War of Northern Agression. Sometimes it was The War Between the States. Very very rarely the Civil War. I agree with you that if you have actually lived in the South it is hard to regionalize. Birmingham, Mississippi and Georgia are their own deal. Georgia is sort of the status hub of those three; Mississipi the poorest. ( Northern Louisiana and Southern are two different worlds, the North goes with those three.) They also contained the old Southern artistocracy to a great extent. See, I DID grow up with kids who descended from rich planters. Southern Carolina was plantation money, NC wasn’t. Virginia barely makes the cut as Southern. Texas is…..Texas. And Florida is secretly New York.
“Another exception to the rule.” I’ve heard of other people hearing it in the deep South. I personally was well educated.
I might be overstretching just a bit, but I’m profoundly skeptical of any view of the South that treats racist whites as the default representative, and ignores the millions of African-Americans, Hispanics, and other persons of color who are just as active in shaping the culture and politics of this region.
@ohcomeone It’s nice of you to sit on your high horse and declare that the south is soooooo racist. I have news for you, racism doesn’t reach the the Noth/South border and suddenly disappear. It’s not a question of where is most racist because any form of racism is wrong. There should never be a way of declaring that just a little bit of racism as okay to live with. I would also like to point out that it wasn’t only white people that fought in the civil war of course you’re all only being a little bit racist by failing to acknowledge our participation. I suppose since it is only a “small erasure” I shouldn’t get upset.” ,Oh one other thing the civil war was about more than just slavery. Those great emancipators saw this as a taxation issue and an economic issue, far more than they saw this as a human rights issue. Let’s not forget that Lincoln wanted to send all the blacks back to Africa. Most whites of that time in no way believed that the Negro was the equal of the white man. The living conditions as factory workers in the North were not that much better than those on a plantation. Blacks had more freedom of movement per say but they were just as susceptible to racialized violence.
Wow, okay. So the mods have been clearly absent on this thread. Jill is incredibly busy right now, and I also do not have the time to go through the entire thing at the moment, and seemingly neither do any of the other mods. From my skimming of the thread, I’m getting and indication of which commenter(s) are likely most to blame, but again, do not have the time to make an entirley fair assessment. So I will say this: This entire conversation looks like one giant thread derail. Take it elsewhere. Okay? This thread is about a really racist comic strip posted up above. If you want to keep commenting here, talk about that. Ohcomeon, using phrases like “white trash” is classist and blatantly goes against our comment policy. This is your warning. Keep that up and you will be banned. Indeed, folks I see keeping up this line of conversation here after this comment are likely to be put on moderation and will be subject to having further comments on this thread on that matter deleted.
“I might be overstretching just a bit, but I’m profoundly skeptical of any view of the South that treats racist whites as the default representative, and ignores the millions of African-Americans, Hispanics, and other persons of color who are just as active in shaping the culture and politics of this region.” Word. And, I would add, I’m skeptical of it because it is racist. That is, it completely erases the lives of PoC who are, as you say, every bit as active in shaping the culture and politics of the region.
Ohcomeon, using phrases like “white trash” is classist and blatantly goes against our comment policy. This is your warning. Keep that up and you will be banned. Cara my apologies. I’d appreciate it if I wasn’t sworn at for having a strongly held opinion opposite of anothers’.
I want to apologize. I meant it when I said that arguing about who was more racist is futile and unproductive. And it is my fault that argument came back. I just get upset when people stereotype about the south.
Hey, Cara, did you catch the bit where ohcomeon argues that queer theory is just “self esteem class for gay people” over on the Queer Theory in Georgia post? It’s charming. And I don’t think you’d have missed the forest for the trees there if you’d read it–or had any problems calling it what it is: blatant homophobia. I’m confused about why you’re not doing that when it’s racism.
That said, this didn’t start out as a derail. What’s there to say, really, beyond “SHIT. That sure is fucked up. That asshole’s apology is pathetic. Right on, post-racial my ASS.” I mean, posts without a lot of content lend themselves to tangential discussion. I will, I think, just leave this thread for now.
Yeah right. Klan rally evidence? In State College, please. Okay, I have to go on record. Is Columbus, Ohio northern enough for you? This was 1977: The Ku Klux Klan: A Secret History, part VIII FTR, I am the irate blond shouting at exactly 3:20. (Can I pause to say: didn’t I look GREAT?) And I was subpoenaed due to this damn video! So… please don’t try to tell me the klan has never been northern. Sorry Cara, I won’t say anything else. But couldn’t let that pass. It just isn’t fair, or true. And I have proof!
” I might be overstretching just a bit, but I’m profoundly skeptical of any view of the South that treats racist whites as the default representative, and ignores the millions of African-Americans, Hispanics, and other persons of color who are just as active in shaping the culture and politics of this region” We have been a bit patronizing, haven’t we? The hilarious thing to me about this whole argument, is that we’re probably all a bunch of white folk arguing about who is more racist. Maybe we’re not the best people to decide this argument.
No, Columbus OH is not State College PA. I was responding to a particular assertion by Kristin, one that was apparently false. Never said there was no KKK activity in the North. But it is a distinctly southern thing at the same time.
Daisy that’s awesome! Ultimately, I think Ellen has made the best point: “The hilarious thing to me about this whole argument, is that we’re probably all a bunch of white folk arguing about who is more racist. Maybe we’re not the best people to decide this argument.” And with that, I’m done. Thanks all, it’s been a blast!
Ellen: I never said any region was “more racist” than another. I said the whole fucking country is racist, and we ought to own up to that.
The hilarious thing to me about this whole argument, is that we’re probably all a bunch of white folk arguing about who is more racist. “More racist” is subjective… but stating unequivocally that the klan has always been southern, is simply historically inaccurate. Now, why would someone keep repeating something blatantly inaccurate? Trolling? Nah.
I wrote the Asheville Citizen-Times, and their editor wrote back saying that cartoon was never published in their paper or on their site, although that cartoonist does draw for them.
Kristin, I was responding to Ohcomeon. I agree with you completely. On every single point you have made. It is the same argument I have been trying to make all day. I was trying to take some responsibility for the conversation going south (no pun intended) with the ridiculous N. vs. S. argument. I agree that the world is a racist place. And he will not admit to his colorblind racism.
Here is a map that shows established hate group activity in PA from SPLC. Look how they’re all situated right around State College. The national headquarters of the KKK is about an hour’s drive down the road. They’re here. http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp#s=PA There’s a lot of joint activity between the hate groups in Ohio and central/rural Pennsylvania. People around here call PA “Alabama plus Pennsylvania.” The KKK is not specifically in State College, though it does come here for events (like the Palin rally). There are, however, active Skinheads around the town. I’m surprised you never noticed ’em in your time at Penn State. So, um… For the record. Learn about where you come from. It really helps one to avoid ignorant, racist statements.
Ellen: no, actually, “we” all aren’t. -I- am–and I’m not arguing, I was flaming, and quite deservedly too–but the fact that all the posters above you don’t automatically come with a little flag that say “hi! I’m of color!” doesn’t mean they aren’t in fact speaking for their damn selves.
“Ellen: no, actually, “we” all aren’t. -I- am–and I’m not arguing, I was flaming, and quite deservedly too–but the fact that all the posters above you don’t automatically come with a little flag that say “hi! I’m of color!” doesn’t mean they aren’t in fact speaking for their damn selves.” This.
belledame, I apologize, I certainly try not to assume anything about anyone. My point was that when a bunch of people coming from privilege get together to save the world, they can often be patronizing. This argument was starting to sound like that. And Kristin, You keep getting mad at me when I have been agreeing with you and backing you up this whole time. What the hell?
Ellen: I’m not mad at you. I think there are some nuances on which we’ve actually disagreed, and I think Belle was right.
I’m from Asheville, and as ‘liberal’ and free thinking as the community I hangout with is; there is a 100 mile wide radius it seems around Avl that is racist, anti-choice, and anti-LGBT. It’s insane. I still can’t believe they ran this! What the fuck?
yikes. i can’t believe y’all spent so much time arguing over who was “more racist,” the north or the south. what exactly are you trying to accomplish?
Confederate General Robert Rodes Autograph Confederate Soldier Cartoon Scarlett Johansson Cosmo Harrychampion Worst Dylan lyric ever.
i only readabout half of all the comments, and then skipped to the end, but it seems like it’s all about ‘who’s more racist.’ that is an offensively stupid coversation and really serves no purpose in discussing racism in american society, north and south. there is no way of deciding whether outright or hidden racism is worse both in terms of social or institutionalized racism, nor is it important which region or state is ‘worse.’ i feel like a jerk for wagging my finger so hard, clearly this is an important conversation to y’all) but this arguement is so annoying to me because this type of arguement seriously slows down serious discussions about racism, and anti-racist movements.
man, i am months late getting here but i have to back up codyb – i was looking for race demographic info on asheville by neighborhood to see how segregated it was and this conversation came up – i feel like i’m in some weird dream – “your white people are more racist,” no, yoooour white people are more racist!” why are we doin the dozens on this shit instead of working to stop it? all i know is, i’m from an interracial family in the boston area, and boston is just like atlanta is just like oakland: you stay where you’re known. there’s some places you just know not to go. and you stay indoors and watch out for people of BOTH races when the economy gets too rough, because that’s when the shit starts to fly – everyone’s to blame for everything. and nothing is as cool as everyone says it is. ever. just try being the one white m.c. or one black punk or one mestiza lesbian or one single-mother-of-three lawyer and learn how far we’ve come. everyone everywhere knows to say “that’s cool” about everything now – hell, they watch mtv – but north, south or anywhichway they are sayin some mess behind your back. i just overheard some businesswoman in connecticut going off about the senator who jetted off to argentina – she didn’t think any non-racists were in earshot – she starts flipping off about him “gettin with a hispanic” and how she must have “turned him crazy” with all that “hot blood,” but “just wait till she gets older – you know those hispanics don’t age well.” ooooh i wanted to kill her! but i’ll tell you what, bitch was jealous! she was getting all red in the cheeks… anyway, my poorly-made point is that this shit is everywhere. EVERYWHERE. even the supposedly diverse, accepting state of ohio: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/us/12ohio.html?em http://www.zimbio.com/The+Coal+Run+Discrimination+Lawsuit/articles/12/UPDATE+ON+THE+COAL+RUN+LAWSUIT An OCRC report noted that in some cases, water lines were extended to within 100 yards of African American residents but that those residents were still denied access to the system. The report also noted that there are 61 homes on Coal Run Road, Langan Lane, Circle Drive, and Russell Street in Muskingum County. Thirty-four of those homes are occupied by whites and 27 are occupied by African Americans. Thirty of the white homes receive water service, compared to four of the African American homes. One of the African American homes had water service established when it was owned by a prior white resident. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/17/us/ohio-town-s-water-at-last-runs-past-a-color-line.html?fta=y http://blackpoliticalthought.blogspot.com/2008/07/black-residents-in-coal-run.html the good news is, some white people actually care enough to fight it – i saw the lawyer who took this case from start to finish speak, and he is a good man. (and no, his firm didn’t pocket the legal fees – they put them directly into their next suit, against st. bernard’s parish in louisiana – read the comments on this post to see how far we have yet to go… http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/judge_rules_against_st_bernard.html) thank you for letting me share in this community. love and blessings, khadijah.